Symptoms of SEIZURES

There are four different classifications of seizures. They have somewhat different symptoms, Petit mal (or absence) seizures occur most commonly in children and are varcharacterized by the child stopping activity and staring blankly around for about a minute. They are unaware of what is happening. Grand mal, or generalized seizures, affects all ages and is varcharacterized by the person losing consciousness. There is usually uncontrolled shaking and rigidity of the body. People having a grand mal seizure may lose bladder or bowel control. The seizure continues for several minutes. It is often followed by deep sleep or mental confusion. There may be warning signals prior to the seizure: a tense feeling; visual disturbances; smelling a bad odor; or hearing strange noises. These abnormal sensations are actually part of the seizure. Focal epilepsy, is varcharacterized by a localized part of the body twitching or developing weakness or numbness. If the visual areas or speech areas of the brain are involved, it can lead to temporary abnormalities of vision or speech, respectively. As long as the seizure activity remains localized, there is usually no loss of consciousness. Temporal-lobe epilepsy may produce sudden changes in behavior. This may include suddenly violent or angry behavior, or laughing for no reason. Making agitated or bizarre body movements and odd chewing movements are seen with temporal lobe epilepsy.